A Bridge Over Troubled Water ... uh, Make That Sand Udi Bar David, 50-year-old veteran cellist in the Philadelphia Orchestra, has developed a far-reaching parallel musical life as the founder, president and artistic director of Intercultural Journeys, whose mission is "to promote understanding among people of diverse cultures through dialogue and the presentation of world-class performances in music, poetry and...

Set to spring and soar among the Tony Award seraphim after stepping to the forefront of Broadway's best following this past Tuesday's record-tying nominations (15) announcement, "Billy Elliot" is operating on all jetés. And while this movie-based moving musical about an impoverished young lad from an English coal-mining town burnished into a diamond at dance class has raised the barr...

Lag B'Omer and Mother's Day come back to back -- and it's all about the food

By:

Etehl Hofman, JE Feature

Lag B'Omer, this year takes place on Tuesday, May 12, on the 33rd day after the second day of Passover in the midst of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. ("Lag" is the Hebrew numerical equivalent of 33). For me and my husband, Lag B'Omer is a doubly special celebration. A few decades ago, we were married on Lag...

Confessional writing has been a fixture of the literary scene for so long now that we may forget how fraught with dangers the form can be, at least in its modern incarnation. A writer, even when striving to be unstintingly honest, can tip easily into bathos, or be so committed to "telling all" that he or she can begin revealing...

Like most couples who celebrate the milestone of a golden wedding anniversary, Bob and Molly Freedman have spent their lives accumulating children, grandchildren, dear friends and fond memories. Unlike most others, they also spent the years collecting Jewish music, a collection which, since 1997, has been known as the Robert and Molly Freedman Jewish Sound Archive at the University of...